Medical fluid injection devices are typically used to inject medical fluid into a patient. These devices often include one or more reservoirs to hold the medical fluid, and one or more pressurizing units to inject the medical fluid into the patient. For example, a contrast media powered injection device may include a reservoir containing contrast media and a syringe that is used to inject the contrast media into the patient. The contrast media injection device may be used during certain medical procedures, such as an angiographic or computed tomography (CT) procedure.
Many medical fluid injection devices include one or more syringes to inject fluid. A syringe has a chamber for holding the fluid and a plunger that is moveable within the chamber. The fluid is typically drawn into the chamber from a fluid reservoir when the plunger is moved in a first direction. The fluid is then expelled from the chamber and into the patient, via a catheter, when the plunger is moved in a second, opposite direction. The fluid is delivered at a rate that may be determined by a speed of movement of the plunger.
During a given medical procedure, a medical fluid injection device may need to deliver a determined amount of medical fluid. If the pressurizing unit, such as a syringe, does not contain a sufficient amount of fluid for the procedure, a clinician may need to interact with the device to initiate a fluid replenishment operation. For example, the clinician may push a button or otherwise interact with a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the device to partially or completely fill the pressurizing unit. In other cases, the device may be capable of calculating or otherwise determining an amount of fluid remaining within the pressurizing unit, and then supplying the pressurizing unit with fluid if it determines that this remaining amount is less than the amount that is required to perform an injection procedure for a patient.